Oranjegekte

08Jun

The Euro 2012 tournament begins soon, and you can definitely tell by just walking around Amsterdam. The tournament isn’t even being played here (it’s being hosted by Poland and Ukraine), but the color orange is everywhere. The country has been consumed with “Oranjegekte“, aka “Orange craze”. Orange streamers and decorations have gone up on many streets, including ours, and Albert Heijn has discovered that if you dye any food orange, the Dutch will pay twice as much for it.

Predictably, you can’t turn on the TV without seeing commercials revolving around the tournament. Here is a nice one, by Grolsch beer. The song being played is the Dutch national anthem:

2 years ago, during the World Cup, Bavaria beer made the news by releasing an orange dress for women. Many women wore them to matches, and pictures of them appeared in the media around the world. Well, Bavaria is back this year with a new V (for Victory) dress.

Supermarket chain Albert Heijn has launched a competition between men (“Mannen”) and women (“Vrouwen”). You can go online and make predictions. At the end of the tournament, the gender that did better wins!

McDonald’s has gotten into the act too, with their new “EK Burger” (Euro Cup Burger). Here, they take on the rivalry between the Netherlands and Germany:

ING Bank released a very nice commercial as well. The chorus of the song is “Wij zijn samen” which means “We are together”, and the tagline “Oranje zijn we allemaal” means “We are all Orange” – “Oranje” being the nickname for the Dutch football/soccer team.

Finally, if you want to listen to a bit of Dutch “music”, have a go at this one: